Biden meets with Speaker Johnson, Sen. Schumer on Ukraine, Israel aid as shutdown looms

• Biden met with Speaker Johnson, Sen. Schumer and other congressional leaders at the White House to push his deadlocked funding package for Israel and Ukraine aid.
• Congressional Republicans and Democrats have been at a stalemate for months on the funding package, which would primarily provide aid to Ukraine and Israel.
• Congress this week is also scrambling to pass a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown by Friday.

President Joe Biden hosted Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the White House Wednesday afternoon to discuss his deadlocked supplemental funding bill for aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Other leaders on the attendee list included Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The president also asked members of relevant congressional committees to join.

"I'm going to tell the President what I'm telling all of you and we've told the American people: border, border, border," Johnson told reporters Wednesday ahead of the meeting.

Congress is already busy this week trying to pass a short-term continuing resolution by Friday to prevent a partial government shutdown.

Biden initially requested a $105 billion supplemental funding package from Congress in October to aid Israel and Ukraine in their respective wars, along with securing Taiwan's defense systems and the U.S. southern border.

In the ensuing months, the bill has remained at a stalemate in Congress though Biden has tried several times to turn up the pressure. Johnson and Biden spoke on the phone last week about border security, which has become a primary sticking point in the negotiations.

Congressional Republicans demanded more funding for the southern border and